Saturday, September 4, 2010

At 4:30 this morning there was an earthquake in Christchurch - a pretty big one (7.1 or 7.0, depending on whether you trust the New Zealand Herald or Wikinews more). While I in no way wish to trivialise something that probably gave a lot of people a really bad day*, I managed to find something interesting in the photos taken by Dr. Mark Quigley, a lecturer in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Canterbury, and, in my opinion, a really cool guy if he actually goes by the name "Dr. Quigs". All the photos that follow are of today's quake, and credit for them goes to Dr. Quigs.

When I picture the effects of a large earthquake, two things come to mind:

1) Damage to buildings/structures, or damage caused by pieces of the aforementioned falling off.

2) Great big cracks in the ground.

I imagine I'm like most people in this regard. But one thing that one doesn't necessarily expect from an earthquake is mounds of sand and dirt pushed up by the force of the quake.

"I didn't know earthquakes could do that!"

"Well, there's a lot you don't know about earthquakes."

The Avon river burst its banks in places.

Mud, mud, everywhere, really.

According to the bio on his website, Dr. Quigs enjoys "swims in Arctic lakes, tundra golf, and staring contests with muskox and caribou." The only way he could be more badass is if it turned out that he caused the earthquake with his lecturer powers and was actually a supervillain called something like "Dr. Quake". But only a little bit more badass.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Something to remember when fishing - if you land a fish that's undersized, or you're a catch-and-release fisher:

If a hook is deeply embedded, cut the line. Fish have strong digestive acids that will dissolve metal. Studies have shown fish released in this manner have a higher survival than fish which have the hooks torn from their throats or stomach.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

This is what Youtube presented me with when I tried to get a video the other day:

500 Internal Server Error

Sorry, something went wrong.

A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.

Also, please include the following information in your error report:Dtc7IAKAtp6wFmmIjDs3aZvDB1PozjVVV1C3Nn0ZZVc7F8NCfygAfMAC_HpiRclhfKNv2EVshXLGLHo_SZdBs8QhRMQX6GAGn-8j9G9AanQYlT5fr1E9Mg5K6VwHnnTBr_Y7tTrmZXIPidRf9uHwaPiw6hJYqYMW2ScAI9Bal5TIpYi9MjTjin7KfU_RpZ7y5x4bKNEmwCV_o8_Gx-V_u2DxWO-sUCEjaPbclfld3YeLM9YheDC8KX_W69GcbDxZp5ZPcFsDy2mRqEuIeO4B_cvrzKQNTfEjjgq1ROQMcoHcO-YcLVzBTqFC2RQFE3mz1YNnKRdSArMKci4hFqyMvKRKoeBtho9fbCTTcedRZy1TDNzO9RyEyaQGbSOmvobY_jVbtfmpkfjLOng5XU75XX6Ejn-vBd2EM4NP88caO1_i3sH-E3a1CQS1Pr3G4S5X1ofi7oONw3SEeN81C9-DodaBESe1quEnbRCpxL0rc2DGQpBcIm6VT95HRfwKLlb2o93gWE7lYpzxk53Dz8Siu1NpjQ6-HbLwzivcETlmR6Wg4RA_X1XlGGlxiJe8iRMn2z8xjIMf9XhfJsuppfMcKaKbgDgitiU5Ey184Pyf6hlXqcoQbbyS0gPFnSxlDObsaeishYpKdfZlZkjZvIN8jgL58dUGCfUNh0scTxNd9Ab6c-voH0gxTjsYUS1KH9LkD-ZfBRjLpX55v1XqGQNGM-8lD52RJ1abhsW0OU6NqRrpdTt9jE4-_FBXYQejf5ZynR8Ql8oevSHpv72UfQSvqJ0WM3K5mTyRCznv9nJ_nsmKlSgD5sZptkG1wPvupgRiSIB68J8YZUWABy2oNJmyVkmPW1kkouxAeW33OqaqSFqlx1X_KVtJNEOdODz7wg2HVakplrwWKnKbTyu_4uoqXPyL1AMyJjTgNywejL-txGo_558cgCTkyXPkdZ1B2RynA_2RbRtpJTkFccB7RlvG51YaForiqVVI2wPQgKlDDuE00cNQpqdIrplGEhmOBYe8ispPtkyzBiggBaDE0letUkHm_K6ugMGkYs-RVxmandZqovDAD2j-H_x7y7_p0OSr0jQQAFV5_efBTSF-StXb-QkfRTbPc775BXx3eJT5Vg6ZkidFEoNbAsaonAJKa5OVQyg9kZtD-5U1nQ9zouWHYuBx5dTr_UXpfZien8Px2yzs8wmfS1LYVS8iZKBwBKC684TmcqPGGxpGV3ufODvEtESlbJk6I7o6hMpFUOI4BQb3fgWH02PWzQ4ArzyJV3QHszhm7r7OKIoSXOBdyti8JH1nktlUXmmPuygKEmYSR50_9gYCksOj5GiJ2N4ZO7IL-Oou8rG-Lxt3vTiaWjqgF93u7wRLRNOm-Y35rMGuRbhS3yFhB5NWOw0lvimA3Q9jQvkw4JHnVbi8oJBLN7fKqhiQaFrjtWd6u4m89S7aZyXyIIrPxtJ-abDZ53ueYXH8tf00z9slQomC8V3hk72ExBCzV1odeOUPDajEVIjevTdxgPBqxFFlGyI_9qHIj_roDdSyogBuw8d4maYrmnPkybGmQaAQxa53WiyQhuXBIKm2_k3hZLVAL7TZ1uc7hJ9RTOxGFcRIzbAJOpvscCdQFLSW0c3rl1xzGO7s2WDKg5-qY5oPtZDrgAdl5KOR-io2CLRO74PolKQ_yZqAkCdJJE9IYoha_zB5CYcTks8rXPIOHLqnb8JcGqIa1KPQLvrKTGZ-Icr87H7QvYcjz9wjg6KVDSu_ee8OLpLBxcuwUjGforxpd9-_lj__ERC0Dnv8kJgFzMXSsfCKo4M3Ra7BsFCbTmrK7D38hX_DAM7AJonxacD-aJ_63AhfGK2SW0dRJ4BD8T0PAQvrQjxhh2rt4vrKey0Cq-c8xtsRoU0Tfgmnj82H7OeoHpCoeSGI4MRH3CT7oRQTVCxsiX0Oy36hvh6beRlBcfZ40YE_xJJ3LojhvS1dOxOBj25ZuLiPPOo7ePlzghwqYfDIfubS2lcuDCEXcymNxqyj45ubI6_4TWkCQeQyTNa-asNw5ok9ydBlzqQQnr6NPef99aARkcu8MoGemMrkWcZKhiqxyfFerXK8KF6T3QnZE8wJQpljFePkliqO2QACb5Ub7eg9rC3TwEbNdtwYbWUrgm_PsWKEllztCxeD9h8ClOzUkB5jdSHjIUyk-fpbqCj88C4AegOMn19zlsxUrvsw9HNHFGG_JJd6YP7iC2b_Zq-OZ0L9ZE21CU0v63_7kXB_SG2mAxoSC1VdBMKbxGS9MlL53vaY_TmpWLOBJ5GKa-6fGaJ-5z5Kcs7XBYXFxGc3d5zwIZI8ZzRF0HQMHeNRk5zs5s3C2HdyQ0k34qspdxOtBJndvEghWFSeJ0qpbNi4xZiFh7CnRNX3czvzAathqLsCenFrEnt3qcyQOOQJLMLFHr_Yg28GujFicR4QM_yB_1gBLHVl5Q0CqhJHTzONM9tkRvyc84C-b_ObZqc4p9pUN0ohiDnJPI2Lv3vp3CvrlLoexzhTGWaZquUvtwbKfd7iMqfeLFGTjzRNHatRUnJBZboC_iO8XyZqUltHjcgA1_guIrJIK6Fsfwr7cvoOWit0VRYE5dEMJUcFfHSmpmnLDpsuly4sFa75fl9F6K8WocynPtOdaEFpjLPgpCUw81jS9Bi6JENmnI_-GHYtIVQXZOUA8m4TF75RtP-0iVplAXvDEMHFA0X8Rm3Xte0vMskFeRXQItk9jmyzOpXc20mSOYKB3g7K-tu2_hYi3J9Wrzn5Ivgu7kTVYrK12dFjnFedJFaCGauCq0jfSgu19EJwxBHW31CzoRH2w0hQlfyKi_jEkitDpq1qETPz-GELH9RBb2DuqgS4VIQMpCaI_ORiEe-2PSvyT0sEDXHauBr9Ai811KFuJWcjgN7jF5bto9L8D31Nt3cmRKYQtXhjtldqHK-YuuoDvHXXb03fZTe86FevFTAWZMQnqIt1D_56a94_YeK5RBPxbAqQ6uiSwp5ubisSs8emJUVUphTke42g59_ndrbHHqD9zKiQdTIKmDqg__187A6g5vD9ggLc6KM8ESHfYGjulzf9pE77ALkRwQXlx5irU4jUqFfEqfg9

I appreciate it not for the long string of unintelligible letters and numbers, but for the comment about highly trained monkeys. I wonder how their tech support staff feel about being referred to in this way.